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diy solar

Hybrid Water Heater

Supervstech said:
They output cold air. Keep this in mind when locating one in your home. Basements are a good location for them, as they dehumidify spaces. Winter time, can be a challenge, but the insulation of the tank is usually high, and they don’t run all the time, so the heat loss is handled by the earth and the heating system of the home.
If off grid, replace the element with a light bulb or the huge 5Kw element will rapidly drain your batteries...
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How do you replace a heating element with a light bulb? Will it be in direct contact with the water in the tank? I’m a little unclear about how to do this. Please explain. Thank you!
 
SolarfortheOuachitas said:
How do you replace a heating element with a light bulb?
Click to expand...
Not an issue for me because the Rheem has a setting to just use hybrid and not turn on element.
If I did want to disable the element I would leave the element in place and disconnect the wires and connect them to a bulb. Maybe the poster can explain whether one would need to find 240 volt bulb.
 
Last edited:
Someone once said that the heater control sensed if the heating element was open and would cause a fault code. I asked to verify and never got a response.
 
efficientPV said:
Someone once said that the heater control sensed if the heating element was open and would cause a fault code. I asked to verify and never got a response.
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That would depend on given model of unit. All it takes is a hall effect current sensor on AC line to heating element and the controller to turn on a red LED or put message on LCD control screen.
 
Ampster said:
Not an issue for me because the Rheem has a setting to just use hybrid and not turn on element.
If I did want to disable the element I would leave the element in place and disconnect the wires and connect them to a bulb. Maybe the poster can explain whether one would need to find 240 volt bulb.
Click to expand...
Most all hybrid heat pump water heaters have an 'ECO' mode that prevents quick recovery heating elements from being used.

That works until wife gets a cold shower.;)
 
I have a Rhemes 50gal and have it set 'heat-pump' only. Plus we have about 200ft of recirculating pipe for 'instant' hot water at the taps. There is only 2 of us - so I would say lighter use. It's under the house where temps range from 50F/10C winter to 80F/27C summer.

The Heat-Pump only mode maxes out at 400w - very cool/easy on the inverter. It does require 240v.

I've been tracking monthy kwh for 2 years now and goes up to 200kwh/month in winter and down to 130kwh in summer. Averaging 163kwh/month over 12 months.

At 11c/kwh in my location - I'm still saving $7 and $14 / month compared to natural gas.

AND - it has regular top and bottom 4500watt heating elements - so you can switch to 'high heat' if you want to.

All good as far as I'm concerned!
 
SolarfortheOuachitas said:
How do you replace a heating element with a light bulb? Will it be in direct contact with the water in the tank? I’m a little unclear about how to do this. Please explain. Thank you!
Click to expand...
A pair of 120V bulbs wired in series would do it.
But, no… he bulb isn’t installed in the tank, the bulbs just get the wiring from the element connected to them. The bulbs don’t heat the water, they just fool the unit into operating without lockout.
I have not don’t it, I watched a video of an off grid user experimenting with solving his frequent high wattage drain.
 
I am pretty sure I would prefer just the compressor running on 400 watts and skip the resistance elements. Would make the power requirements so much easier if converting from gas.

Like cars, the hybrid is just a crutch.... give me a full EV any day.
 
While the light bulb concept might be a good one for some hybrids, it is not necessary if the posters hybrid is a Rheem, RUUD or one that give you the choice of hybrid only mode. That setting essentially locks out use of the resistance element.
 
SolarfortheOuachitas said:
How do you replace a heating element with a light bulb? Will it be in direct contact with the water in the tank? I’m a little unclear about how to do this. Please explain. Thank you!
Click to expand...
I’ve learned a lot from my mistakes over the years and found out that when I trip a circuit breaker on my Trace SW4024 inverter by pulling too many amps, that my GeoSpring HPWH shuts down too.

I’ve also found that in most cases, the sun needs to be to be shining on my 3.725 kw array in order to provide the extra boosting amps the inverter and water heater need to cycle it through the self-test phase when the HPWH re-starts.

It took me a long time to figure out that the circuitry requires the electric heating elements to run for a while in non heat pump mode before switching to heat pump only mode.

How did I figure this out? By the reading the GeoSpring manual from cover to cover as well as studying the inverter manual.

When I get a new product, I studiously file away the manuals and documents to make sure that I don’t lose them and then promptly forget to read them!

It’s fascinating to read other members’ posts about the creative ways they adapt to the challenges. For me, I try to keep adding useful loads while efficiently using the devices that I have already installed. Working in harmony with the Sun’s output
is a lot of fun, especially around winter solstice.
 
SolarfortheOuachitas said:
.....when I trip a circuit breaker on my Trace SW4024 inverter by pulling too many amps, that my GeoSpring HPWH shuts down too.
.......

It took me a long time to figure out that the circuitry requires the electric heating elements to run for a while in non heat pump mode before switching to heat pump only mode.
Click to expand...
I used to have a Geospring that only lasted 5 or 6 years. I do vaguely remember during its last few weeks before the compressor gave out it exhibited some unusual behavior. I do not think the RUUD which replaced it, has the same start up procedure. It may be time to think about a replacement? I recently found a local plumbing supply house that sold RUUD HPWHs for a competitive price when the local Home Depot had no stock and higher prices to order one. Apparently RUUD and Rheem are the same. In the past I installed Rheems for another home and the home of a family member.
 
Very recently I was close to pulling the trigger on a Rheem ProTerra 50 gallon HPWH, available at Homedepot for about $1700. But then I started reading about Rheem units and a noise problem. Apparently the newly redesigned generation 5 (Gen 5) units are producing some sort of vibration harmonics in the 200hz range that permeate your house. They say the Gen 4 units don't do this. Also the Gen 5 units no longer include some pieces regarding attaching venting if you're doing that. I went to a guys house to listen to his Gen 4 Proterra and thought yeah that'll be okay in my garage where I'll put it. But then just before I bought, I read all the noise complaints online. Plus I read they removed their ~52dB noise spec from their data sheet ... hmmm.

So, has anyone recently bought one of the Rheems? and experience the noise - or not experience it being noisy?
 
mizermizer said:
So, has anyone recently bought one of the Rheems? and experience the noise - or not experience it being noisy?
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I have had two of the older models and am planning on buying one for a home i recently purchase. It will be in a garage so noise is not an issue. The energy savings is worth any noise mitigation I would have to do it it was going to be in my home.
 
mizermizer said:
Very recently I was close to pulling the trigger on a Rheem ProTerra 50 gallon HPWH, available at Homedepot for about $1700.
Click to expand...
$1700-1900?!? - https://www.homedepot.com/p/Rheem-P...etection-Auto-Shutoff-XE50T10HS45U0/312741462

Ours is an 'ordinary' 50gal Rheem hybrid for $700 + energy rebate = $400 total price that we bought 3 years ago. We leave it heat-pump mode 100% and it works great! Maxes out at 400w of power and we average ~160kwh/month with 200ft of hot water circulation for instant hot water at the tap. Noise - very mild, we have it under the house in our TV/exercise area (e.g. near it often) and never even noticed noise.

I see a more ordinary Home Depot one for $1150 - https://www.homedepot.com/p/Rheem-P...-Electric-Water-Heater-XE50T10H45U0/312742081 Not sure what you get for that extra $600-800 model you reference.
 
OffGridInTheCity said:
$1700-1900?!? - https://www.homedepot.com/p/Rheem-P...etection-Auto-Shutoff-XE50T10HS45U0/312741462

Ours is an 'ordinary' 50gal Rheem hybrid for $700 + energy rebate = $400 total price that we bought 3 years ago. We leave it heat-pump mode 100% and it works great! Maxes out at 400w of power and we average ~160kwh/month with 200ft of hot water circulation for instant hot water at the tap. Noise - very mild, we have it under the house in our TV/exercise area (e.g. near it often) and never even noticed noise.

I see a more ordinary Home Depot one for $1150 - https://www.homedepot.com/p/Rheem-P...-Electric-Water-Heater-XE50T10H45U0/312742081 Not sure what you get for that extra $600-800 model you reference.
Click to expand...
The super super expensive $1900 one for your first link includes the leak detection and auto-shutoff. Your second link is the one I'm talking about and here in good old Southern California the local HD sells that one for $1699. I dunno, but maybe in Oregon they're that much less, $1150!
1656613056584.png https://www.homedepot.com/p/Rheem-P...-Electric-Water-Heater-XE50T10H45U0/312742081

Maybe I'll drive to Oregon to buy one.
 
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